


Love Lives, and I Will Defend Her

by AriadneKurosaki



Series: IchiRuki Month 2020 [4]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Byakuya grudgingly stans it, F/M, Fade to Black, Hurt/Comfort, IchiRuki Month
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:54:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25701673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AriadneKurosaki/pseuds/AriadneKurosaki
Summary: She screamed as if the very heart of her was being torn out, and Ichigo leapt to her side as the rain poured down.
Relationships: Kuchiki Rukia/Kurosaki Ichigo
Series: IchiRuki Month 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1858906
Comments: 7
Kudos: 62





	Love Lives, and I Will Defend Her

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Day 4, Crossing Blades, Crossing Hearts
> 
> I’m still a little salty about one specific part of Fade to Black - when Rukia screams and not one person helps her - so I wrote this. The first several paragraphs align with and contain dialogue from the movie. 
> 
> The title comes from The Cruxshadows' "Defender".

“This time, Rukia, I’m sharing my powers with you!” Ichigo shouted. The tattered robes of his bankai swirled around him while pale blue reiatsu filled the air. He grasped Zangetsu in both hands and ran forward. Rukia – melded with the two strange beings who’d possessed her – howled and leapt toward him, purple-black power radiating outward in tattered swirls around her. “Come back to us, Rukia!” _Come back to me._

His blade pierced her with a squelch and scrape of bone on metal, then kept going, impaling her and sending blood spraying everywhere.

For ten horrifying seconds nothing happened and Ichigo thought he’d killed her. But Zangetsu murmured reassurance in his mind and power _exploded_ between them. His reiatsu spilled into her and shoved outward, pushing out the souls of the brother and sister who’d taken over her body. The strange white garb Rukia was wearing shredded to nothing, revealing a shihakusho, and her hair darkened.

Without meaning to, Ichigo brought them both to a kneeling position on the ground, one arm holding her tightly around the shoulders while the other kept ahold of his blade. Rukia stirred underneath his arm and he reluctantly let go, a hand running through her hair as Rukia straightened up.

“Ichigo…”

His eyes softened as they looked into hers. “Hi,” he said softly. Her violet eyes showed the truth: she remembered him. Rukia was _back._ The tightness in Ichigo’s chest eased.

They both looked at the two spirits lying on the ground not far away. “Go on and help them,” he said, when Rukia looked at him again.

She ran on sandaled feet across the cracked and barren ground. Ichigo kept his zanpakuto at the ready, but Renji and Byakuya seemed content to watch and the two souls – the brother and sister who’d kidnapped yet clearly cared for Rukia – were dying.

He heard her name them, heard her call them Homura and Shizuku, and thought to himself that they were _good_ names. Heard Urahara explain that they’d tried so hard to get back to Rukia after sacrificing themselves for her. And then they died – again. Ichigo stood silent, head bowed as the first raindrops started to fall.

Rukia, though – Rukia raised her head and _screamed_ as if her very heart was being torn from her.

Before it was a conscious thought Ichigo ran forward, dropping Zangetsu on the ground only when he reached Rukia’s side. He barely noticed when Urahara deftly stepped out of his way. His arms slid around her and he pulled her close, body covering hers protectively and shielding her from the worst of the sudden downpour. Ichigo’s hand slid through her already-soaked wet hair and down her back, rubbing gently while she sobbed into his chest. No one else moved; Ichigo wasn’t even sure if their memories had returned yet.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered. “I’ve got you, Rukia.” Rukia just buried her head deeper into his chest and Ichigo pulled her closer. They sat in the cold rain until she started to shiver despite the warmth Ichigo radiated. He wasn’t much better: his shihakusho was completely soaked through and his hair hung limp around his head, dripping rivulets of water into his eyes.

Movement registered in his peripheral vision and he looked up: Urahara and Renji were wrapping the bodies of Homura and Shizuku in dark fabric, and members of the Fourth Division had stretchers ready to carry them away. He wasn’t sure why they hadn’t dissolved – but Ichigo had other things to worry about. Like Rukia, who was shivering ever more violently in his arms.

He dropped out of bankai and fastened Zangetsu onto his back. Then he slid one arm under her knees and the other around her shoulders and rose to his feet. Rukia didn’t even seem to notice. Ichigo looked over at Byakuya, who was standing in the same position as he had been a few minutes ago despite the pouring rain.

“The Fourth Division relief station will still be overrun, if it has not been destroyed. You may bring her to the manor,” the Sixth Division captain said calmly.

Ichigo nodded briefly and disappeared a second after Byakuya did. It was harder to use flash-step after exerting so much power over the past few days, and Ichigo stumbled to a stop outside of the Kuchiki Manor. The guards had the gates open already and one nodded briefly in greeting while the other stepped aside to allow him to walk through. Ichigo stepped inside, grimacing as his sopping wet sandals and socks squelched on the wooden floors and he dripped water everywhere.

“Lady Rukia!” a young woman in a simple pink kimono gasped as she came around the corner. She had a badge with the Kuchiki crest on the left side of the kimono, just below her shoulder.

Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief and adjusted his hold on Rukia. “Can you show me to her rooms, or…somewhere she can lie down? Rukia’s had a bad shock and needs a hot bath and a change of clothes, right away.”

“Y-yes of course, come this way, kyaku-sama.” The young woman hurried forward and Ichigo followed her through a series of rooms separated by ornate sliding screens, dripping water all the way.

Finally, they reached what was apparently Rukia’s room; Ichigo spared a smile for the chappy plushie on a shelf – a dead giveaway that they were in _her_ space.

The servant nervously introduced herself as Miura Yuina and disappeared into a washroom through yet another screen. After a minute Ichigo heard the sound of running water. He looked down at Rukia, who was resting her head against his chest. “Rukia?”

She stirred and opened her eyes, which were swollen and reddened from crying.

“Can you stand?” Ichigo asked. “You’re in your rooms in the Kuchiki manor and Miura-san is running a hot bath for you.”

“I think so.” Rukia’s voice was rough and barely above a whisper. Ichigo nodded, sending water showering down on them both, but bent and let Rukia’s feet touch the ground before letting go of her legs. He straightened back up but kept one hand on her forearm, stabilizing her, as she stood. “How...?”

“I used flash-step to get us both back from the Twelfth,” Ichigo explained. She opened her mouth to speak again, but Ichigo shook his head briefly. “Everything else can wait. You need to get warm and dry or you’ll get sick.” He pushed a soaked strand of hair from her eyes and tucked it behind her ear.

Yuina came back into the room and smiled nervously at Rukia. “Lady Rukia, your bath is ready. Please allow me to help you.”

Rukia stepped away from Ichigo and allowed herself to be ushered into the washroom. Before the door closed, Ichigo called to Yuina, “Please put a cold cloth on her eyes as well, Miura-san.”

Ichigo could hear the slap of wet cloth hitting the ground from beyond the door and the low splashes of a body sinking into bath water. Then: “I’ll return in a moment, Lady Rukia.” The washroom door opened and shut once more.

“Kyaku-sama, please allow me to escort you to a guest room so that you can change into dry clothes,” Yuina said. She eyed the puddles of water Ichigo had left on the ground with apparent disfavor.

Ichigo grimaced. “It’s Kurosaki Ichigo. And yeah, that would be great, thanks.” He cast a worried glance toward the door Yuina had exited but followed her halfway down the hallway into a much more spartan space. “Sorry about the mess.”

“It is no trouble. I will have dry clothing brought to you,” Yuina offered. “Please, feel free to bathe and make yourself comfortable.”

Ichigo nodded his thanks and when she slid the door shut behind herself, he stepped into the washroom. Rukia had cut him up in more than one place while she was possessed by those kids, and he grimaced as his sopping wet shihakusho stuck to the open wound on his arm. The sandals and tabi socks were a loss – the sandals were already coming apart – but he piled the rest to one side.

He bathed quickly and when he stepped back into the guest room two ensembles were waiting for him, as was an unsigned note encouraging him to rest. The first outfit was a simple pair of striped blue and white jinbei, while the second was a clean set of shihakusho. Thankfully, there was also a roll of bandaging.

Feeling much better once he’d bandaged his arm and dressed in the jinbei, Ichigo turned to the futon that had been laid out for him. It was only just getting dark outside but suddenly he was so exhausted that he could have fallen asleep standing up. He wanted to check on Rukia, but – she needed to rest.

He laid down on the futon and searched for her spirit ribbon the way he had earlier in the day. This close, he sensed her without any assistance, and followed the red ribbon in his mind to her bedroom. The ribbon was much more solid, Ichigo noticed. There was something else there as well – a red thread running alongside the ribbon and connecting them.

Rukia was also on a futon, wrapped in many blankets. This time Ichigo could tell that, while she wasn’t entirely at peace, she had cried herself out for the time being and was falling asleep. He contented himself with that and fell asleep holding onto the ribbon – and the thread – in his mind.

Ichigo bolted awake in the middle of the night; the ribbon and thread were vibrating anguish and fear in equal measure. He scrambled from the futon and slid the door of his guest room open. The manor was dead silent, and for a moment Ichigo thought he’d imagined it, but the ribbon seemed to tug at him.

There was no one else in the hallway, and he padded toward Rukia’s room in bare feet. “Rukia?” he asked in a soft whisper when he reached her door. There was no response. Feeling foolish, Ichigo turned to go back to his rooms before another one of those blood-freezing screams echoed through the thin paper doorway. He shoved the doorway open without another word and found Rukia in the darkness, blankets twisted around her body.

Ichigo slid the door shut behind him. “Rukia,” he called again, and knelt by her side. When she groaned in her sleep but still didn’t wake, Ichigo’s hand found her shoulder. He’d never been very good at hiding his reiatsu or controlling it except through Zangetsu, but instinctively he let it flow over Rukia like a blanket.

Slowly and by degrees, Rukia’s body slackened into true sleep. Her hands unclenched from around the blankets and the lines of stress between her eyebrows smoothed away. Ichigo gently untangled her from the blankets and smoothed them back over her. He lightly pressed his wrist to her forehead; she wasn’t feverish, but her forehead was damp with sweat.

Ichigo stood and found a cloth in the washroom. He dampened it with cold water and knelt back down to bathe Rukia’s forehead.

The door slid open again; Ichigo looked up as the blue light of kido illuminated Byakuya in the doorway.

“Kurosaki Ichigo. _What_ are you doing in my sister’s room?”

“She was having a night terror or something. Kinda surprised no one else came running – she screamed loud enough.” Ichigo kept his voice low.

“I did not hear her scream. I felt your reiatsu spike.”

“It seemed to comfort her,” Ichigo admitted. He folded the washcloth and rested it on Rukia’s forehead, then stood.

Byakuya was still staring at him. But all he said was, “I see.”

Ichigo looked back at Rukia one more time and walked toward the doorway. Byakuya stepped aside to let him pass. “Kurosaki,” he said when the younger man was halfway toward his room.

He stopped and turned in Byakuya’s direction. “Yeah?”

“Thank you for saving my sister. Again.”

Ichigo rubbed the back of his head. “Sure, no problem,” he said uneasily. Then he actually _looked_ at Byakuya. “I wasn’t lying when I said that I would pass through even one hundred million blades for her.”

The hallway was silent for a moment. “Then for her sake, I hope your blade will always block them.” Byakuya turned and walked back toward his own rooms.

“It will,” Ichigo said into the darkness. There was an answering echo of certainty from Zangetsu and further down, from the hollow. “It will.”


End file.
